My computer, my mug of coffee, my cotton t-shirt and my sneakers. As I write this, I can't help but think about the costs of these items. Simultaneously so little to me and so costly to others…those in the factories, plantations and bending over sewing machines.

Hospital-based care, including outpatient consultations with specialists and inpatient admissions, accounts for by far the greatest proportion of National Health Service (NHS) expenditure in England. With ever increasing healthcare costs, a longstanding goal of recent governments has been to shift more care away from hospitals and into the community.

Similar to a number of other conflict-affected countries, Afghanistan developed its basic package of health services (BPHS) in 2003 with the intention of delivering effective, targeted, equitable, and sustainable health interventions to the Afghan population. The BPHS is implemented by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in Afghanistan and currently outsourced to 40 national and international NGOs, who are mandated with delivering BPHS services in 31 provinces.

I will never forget the sight of a middle-aged paramedic in charge of “patient monitoring and data management” sitting in a room surrounded by stacks of paper records with a hand-drawn keyboard on his desk. Tun Aung (not his real name) explained that he is practising for when a computer arrives, which he had been hoping for years was imminent. This would allow him to computerise patient data and track whether patients in Yangon, Myanmar, are completing their drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) medication over the lengthy two-year course of treatment.

When it comes to stigma, mental health is the biggest elephant in the room. I am no stranger to the phenomenon, having dedicated many years to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The rejection, blame, stereotyping and discrimination of individuals affected by a stigmatised health condition is often likened by those who suffer as being worse than the disease itself, but is a major hindrance to public health efforts to address the condition.

As the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth. However, sometimes it’s not about how many cooks are involved in the process, but about how effective they are at working together to reach a common goal. This is true in the context of how countries approach nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) – having too many stakeholder groups involved isn’t always the issue. Rather, to achieve nutrition goals countries must ensure they’ve got the right sectors and ministries involved, and that they’re collaborating in the most effective ways.

Romina Kalachi, a 32-year-old woman, was stabbed to death in her own home on May 29, 2017. She was killed in her flat in Kilburn, London and is the latest known sex worker to be murdered in the UK.

It’s early in the morning but already it feels humid in the small living room where I am sitting. Ibu Hasna is a first-time mum and her son aged just two months is being given formula. Hasna explains that she knows breastfeeding is best, but she lacks confidence in the quality of her own breastmilk. Naturally she wants the best for her child so she decided to give formula milk in addition. In urban Indonesia being able to afford milk is often understood as a sign of wealth and status.

The number of children admitted to hospital as an emergency in England has risen over the last 15 years.

Culicoides impunctatus is a persistent biter of outdoor types, occurring in vast numbers in some of the most beautiful parts of the countryside. But if midges make it harder to enjoy the Scottish outdoors, there may soon be an important consolation. Work began by researchers several decades ago to help understand why they prefer certain types of people is informing new research into another bloodsucker whose feeding habits can be deadly: the mosquito. If it succeeds, the results could make a big difference in the battle against malaria.